Page 19 of Killer of the Bells
Echo shook his head, and he huffed in annoyance, but took my phone. He zoomed and swiped the screen carelessly until he found an outcropping of rocks.
“Here?” I asked dubiously. His body language wasn’t that of someone who was confident he’d be able to get his point across, so he likely wasn’t suggesting that it was the place.
“Not here,” Echo said impatiently, but then jabbed his finger at the rocks once more.
“Lyle mentioned something about rocks?”
Echo nodded.
“You must be frustrated all the time,” I murmured, once again, more to myself than him.
“ALL the time. All of it.” Echo blew the lock of blue hair away from his face and pouted.
“Was it a natural rock formation, or manmade?” I asked.
“Manmade.”
We went on like that for some time, but beyond my expectations, it wasn’t unpleasant. Echo had a soothing voice,and he didn’t speak just to make noise. If he had something to say, he said it, and he didn’t give up until his point was made.
He was also amusing. It wasn’t so much what he said as how he said it. He managed to pack a lot of personality into a single word or echoed phrase.
I found myself happy I hadn’t killed him.
Happy? How odd. I didn’t do happy.
Our conversation ended when Gareth said, “I’ve got it. You can take him home now.”
“Home?” Echo asked, looking half relieved and half resigned.
“Yes, home. No murder for you tonight, I’m afraid. You’ll have to content yourself with escaping relatively unscathed with a story to tell.”
“No stories, Echo,” Gareth said coldly. “Make sure of it, Vale.”
I paused and then waved my hand begrudgingly to let Gareth know I’d take care of it.
“No stories?” Echo asked in a small voice.
“I’m afraid not.” For the first time, I found myself reluctant to do what I was about to do. Without thinking, I said, “Gareth, is this really necessary?”
“I told you not to get attached,” Gareth said, sounding like he’d just told one of his nine million children they should have gone to the bathroom before they left.
I immediately took offence since I was far older than he was.
“Who’s attached?” I asked coldly. I’d found someone tolerable to talk to. It was a rarity for me, so naturally, I was hesitant to destroy the connection.
“Do you live on campus?” I asked. When Echo shook his head hesitantly, I could see he believed I was about to take him home and kill him. I listed off all of the post-grad housing I knew of off campus, and when Echo told me which apartmentbuilding was his, I did the same with apartment numbers until he stopped me.
“I’m not going to kill you,” I said once again. “I’m just going to take you home.” Echo’s nod was meek. He didn’t believe me at all.
“You shouldn’t tell bad guys where you live,” I said, scooping him off the bench. “It’s idiotic. You’re less likely to be killed and more likely to be robbed. Then you’ll be depressedandpoor, which is much worse than depressed, I assure you.”
Echo gave a short laugh and was regarding me with the look of a man about to meet his demise, but was okay with it.
He wasn’t going to believe me, and I wasn’t going to draw it out any longer, so I touched his forehead, allowing my fingers to linger on his smooth skin and whispered, “Sleep. Forget.”
Echo’s eyes drifted shut as the magic left me to do my bidding. I didn’t have much control over my power, but I could do that much.
Wraith was far better at the spell than me. He could erase a person’s existence if he wanted to—most of the truly powerful fae could. He assured me I could do the same if I’d only let him teach me, but I refused. I already had enough bullshit to rein in without adding that power to my list of things I shouldn’t be allowed to do for the sake of humanity.
